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Tuesday, 16 March 2010

We Are Scientists

Ah, We Are Scientists. Crafty buggers as far as I'm concerned. They manage to come close to Flight of the Conchords in terms of hilarity whist being an Art Brut franchise (technically they're AB47, if you needed to know). As you can see/guess/have already heard WAS are back, which is I think the main thing that this post should be getting at, but I'm sure I will sidetrack at some point with some gratingly self-referential 'humour'. For instance I feel like pointing out that similarly to The Futureheads 'Heartbeat Song', 'Rules Don't Stop' is getting its own post because it was due to be track of the week before getting gazumped. Still, although never really having posted about them before We Are Scientists are a band that I Really Quite Like.

I'll admit that on first listen to this new single (from forthcoming album Barbara) I found it underwhelming, yet similarly to Alien's face-hugging creature it sets something inside you which nestles down, re-emerging when least expected. That's to say that the chorus is really memorable. Really really memorable. In complete honesty, it's not as good as classic WAS tracks like 'The Great Escape', but when compared to most of the pop music that's currently being released it is killer. Another great factor is hearing a pop track that's mainstream bound which hasn't lost the feel of being created by people, in a room, with instruments.

In true We Are Scientists style they've gone overboard with the multimedia facet that comes part and parcel with being in 'The Music Industry' in this day and age. Unlike the twitters of pop stars however, this again feels like it is actually Keith and Chris that's behind it. No other act have managed to create as strong an identity for themselves using modern media as WAS have. Admittedly this wacky persona can be at odds with the fairly conventional pop rock but get your face around the self-deprecation that comes with the video for the new single:

“With the budget of a 30 Seconds To Mars clip, the raw FX firepower of James Cameron's Avatar, and the intensively rehearsed, flawless timing of an OKGO video, the new music vid from We Are Scientists proves once and for all that rules -- ahem -- truly do not stop these New York City dynamos.”

If this isn't enough then they've got themselves a mini-TV show, that's being broadcast on youtube. It's very sub-Conchords but still pretty humerous. The pilot is here and comes under the banner 'Steve Wants His Money'. It's good to have We Are Scientists back.